


Ben Hargreeves was Different the Second Time Around

by 100percentfluffster



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ben Hargreeves is Alive, Ben Hargreeves is Precious, Ben seemed to have changed a lot since since their childhood flashbacks, They go back in time to thirteen, This is my view of why, and what the others think about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 15:41:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18264359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/100percentfluffster/pseuds/100percentfluffster
Summary: Ben Hargreeves was different the second time around.All his siblings blamed different things for the obvious changes in their sweet brother and all of them would be wrong.A character study of how I think Ben changed from the moment he died to the moment he was brought back.





	Ben Hargreeves was Different the Second Time Around

Ben Hargreeves was different the second time around. 

When Number Six had died he was a quiet boy. Soft-spoken and eager to please. He always had time for his siblings and a supportive attitude. He was good and, perhaps not happy, but pleased to help. He was easily the most liked Hargreeves sibling. He was the exact opposite of the monster he held inside him. 

But after Five time skipped them all back into their thirteen-year-old bodies… Ben was a completely different person. He was still kind but he was sharper around the edges. He was sarcastic and fatalistic. He was quick to laugh at a dark joke but would scoff at well wishes. He walked more confidently and didn’t seem to notice when things would slither around under his skin, where before he would be terrified and hiding. Sometimes he would stare through his siblings with dark dark eyes and a faraway expression that the others weren’t used to seeing on him. 

The others struggled to reconcile the brother they lost with the brother they got back because Ben was gone for years and years and years, but he’d grown up nonetheless. Right alongside Klaus. Ben may have been dead but he was still self-aware and had plenty of time for character growth and life philosophy changes. 

Klaus, on the other hand, was happier than any of them had ever seen him but he was still Klaus. His behavior didn’t change when Ben was back because Ben had always been there with him. The only difference was the no longer one-sided aspect of it. 

Scenes they’d gotten used to suddenly made sense. Klaus sitting in the back of Diego’s car so he could sit with Ben or Klaus pouring an extra cup of tea for Ben. Klaus looking to the side when someone asked him a question to get Ben’s opinion. Klaus laughing at Ben’s jokes instead of the air. The new Ben was a lot more like Klaus than any of them were comfortable with. Not mannerism wise but rather in bearing. Ben moved like he knew people would try to stop him and he didn’t care. He didn’t take things at face value anymore, he made things the way he wanted them. He didn’t give in, he dominated discussions and arguments. He was a new person. 

Luther blamed Klaus for the change because it was the easiest. Klaus was a disappointment in Luther’s eyes and nothing more. He thought that Ben’s attitude and demeanor had been corrupted by Klaus’ cynism and disrespect after spending so much time together. Luther didn’t know that Ben had always felt too quiet in his past life, too meek and controlled for the monster inside him. Luther didn’t know that Ben hated holding his tongue but only in death did he realize the futility of even trying. 

Allison blamed the drugs because it felt natural to her. She’d always looked down on drugs and alcohol in her fellow celebrities. She figured that Ben being around so many drugs and seedy areas of the city had crushed his optimism and happiness under the realities of gutter life. Allison didn’t know that Ben had witnessed terrible things but also kind people. Allison didn’t know the way people bonded together in rehab or validated each other’s pain when they hit rock bottom. Ben may have been stuck in the armpit of the city with Klaus, but he’d seen more than just suffering, he’d seen the genuineness that permeated life. 

Vanya blamed it on being a ghost because she didn’t understand it. She thought that being so removed from life had had a permanent effect on her brother. That being a ghost had stripped him of his outer layers of humanity and left behind something that wasn’t quite like the original. Vanya didn’t know that Ben was far more in touch with his humanity than most, because he knew exactly what it was he had lost. He was well aware of how numb death had made him which only made life so much more fulfilling. Ben had never felt so alive. He was more human than any of them. 

Five blamed the monster inside of Ben because it was the only variable he couldn’t explain. He thought that the monster that had ripped his body apart had also ripped Ben’s mind apart. He thought that maybe like the apocalypse had for him, the Horror had landed Ben in a situation that his mind couldn’t handle without irrevocably changing. Five didn’t know that Ben had never been more at peace with the monster inside him than after he died. That Ben wasn’t plagued with nightmares of losing control anymore because he knew the more control he tried to wrestle over his inner monster the stronger it became. Five didn’t know that Ben had forgiven himself, Reginald, and the monster within. 

Diego blamed dad because he always blamed dad. Diego thought that the change in Ben was sprung from his abuse, that Ben was angry at Reginald for sending his son into a situation that led to his death. Diego thought that anger had followed Ben just as it had followed Diego and twisted up Ben’s thoughts and perspective. Diego didn’t know that Ben was fully aware of the abuse he had survived but also aware of his own self-worth. That Ben was no longer angry but rather determined to give himself the best life, ghost or physical, he could have. 

Klaus didn’t blame anything because he didn’t see the old Ben. He saw the Ben that had helped him through everything and been there by his side. Saw the Ben that made raunchy jokes to make Klaus smile on bad days and made sarcastic quips at Klaus when he fell into bad habits. Klaus saw a confident Ben walk around and was proud of him. Klaus saw Ben and the monster in harmony and wasn’t scared, just inspired. Klaus didn’t know that not only had Ben had helped Klaus, but Klaus had helped Ben. Helped Ben see the real world and have new experiences even in death. Helped Ben come to terms with tragedy both in his own life and outside all around them. Helped Ben become who he was naturally with no expectation. 

Ben blamed himself because he was proud of it. Ben liked the person he was and he liked having a voice. He liked not blending into the background but instead being front and center with Klaus and the others. He liked having arguments with Diego and insulting Luther. He liked going through life unafraid and grateful for each moment. Ben knew that the others didn’t know what to do with him and he didn’t care. Ben knew that he was different than the first time around and he didn’t mind. Ben knew that he was a better version of himself now and nothing would change that, not a thirteen-year-old body, not the strong possibility of dying to the apocalypse again, and most certainly not his family’s misplaced ideas of who he was. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I love Ben and the idea of his family (minus Klaus of course) having no idea what to do with his new sass master attitude. Ben is cheeky and I love it but I feel like he acts so different from the flashes we get of his childhood actions. So it would be a shock to the others I think. Like seeing a friend for the first time after like fifteen years and not recognizing them.


End file.
